November 24, 1898] 



NA TURE 



93 



n the optional science course prescribed by the Code of the 



rEducation Department, except that the Oueen's Scholarship 

 examination is to be limited to the elementary stage of physio- 

 graphy prescribed in the syllabus of the Science and Art 

 Department. With regard to the college course the recom- 



unendation is singularly weak, science being placed as an 



optional subject, without any definite course of study prescribed. 

 For the first two years it is laid down that of the optional 

 subjects not more than two must be taken out of a list of four 



: .r six respectively, some of which from their very nature are 

 ihiiust sure to be taken in preference. 



.\n important letter has been addressed to the Right Hon. 

 Sir lohn Gorst by Sir Philip Magnus, the Chairman of the Joint 

 Scholarship Board, in conjunction with the Chairmen of its four 

 educational committees. They point out the necessity of 

 securing the proper training of those who will be teachers of 

 icientific subjects, and that the instruction of pupil teachers in 

 science is now often carried on, under great pressure, by a 

 system of cram, and even by persons who have not themselves 

 iny satisfactory knowledge of modern scientific methods. They 



'suggest as a remedy that the first part only of the elementary 

 stage, physiography, be compulsory ; that the teaching of this 



! subject be recognised only where it is given with proper acces- 

 sories, all pupils performing the experiments in a series of at 

 least twenty-four lessons of two hours' duration ; and that 

 mspectors should be required particularly to report whether 

 proper apparatus and accessories are provided. 



In last year's report your Committee referred to what Mr. 

 Heller was doing in respect of the teaching of science in the 

 schools of the London School Board. He has since obtained a 

 Letter appointment at Birmingham, but the syllabus of lessons 

 Which he prepared is still employed in the schools. This of 

 bourse requires that the masters and mistresses should be 

 :|ualified for carrying it out, and for this purpose classes of 

 iwenty-four hours are conducted for their benefit by the science 

 demonstrators. These gentlemen have lately agreed upon two 

 separate syllabuses for masters and mistresses, which follow in 



-general the scheme they are expected to teach to their scholars. 



.The classes of a similar kind that have been carried on hitherto 

 nave been appreciated by the teachers, and the Board are 

 Increasing their laboratory and other accommodation for the 

 purpose. It is recognised that it will be necessary to continue 

 the.se teachers' courses for some years, in order to overcome the 



i.lifticulty which now exists in consequence of the general want 

 of practical experiment in such instruction in science as has 



I been given in the course of training of most class teachers. 



(I- 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



■Oxford. — The 194th meeting of the Junior Scientific Club 

 ivas held in the Physiological Lecture Room of the Museum at 

 j p.m. on Wednesday, November 16. After the election of 

 lew members, Mr. A. F. Walden (New College) brought for- 

 urard his motion respecting the appointment of a Committee to 

 let with the Treasurer of the Robert Boyle Lecture Fund. The 

 notion was carried, and the Club elected Mr. A. E. Boycott 

 JOriel) and Mr. A. S. Elford (St. John's) to serve on the 

 Committee. Mr. A. D. Darbishire (Balliol) read a paper on 

 fiatural selection among Lepidoptera. His remarks were 

 Illustrated by several cases of butterflies. Mr. J. E. Marsh 

 Balliol) followed with a paper on the constitution of camphor, 

 n which he attempted to survey all the recent work on the 



Mk. Ernest Wilson has been appointed professor of 

 ckcuical engineering at King's College, London, in succession 

 10 ihc late Dr. John Hopkinson. 



Dr. GusEi'i'F, SAN.iREi.1,1, of the Uruguayan Medical 

 Scliuol and Director of the Hygienic Institute at Montevideo, 

 whnse discovery of the microbe of yellow fever has brought him 

 much distinction, has, the Lancet states, been offered by Dr. 

 Baccelli (Minister of Public Instruction) the chair of Hygiene 

 m Ihc University of Bologna, left vacant by Prof. Roncati. 



The two first formal steps towards the establishment of a 

 \liilland University, to be called the University of Birmingham, 

 wire taken on Friday last, at a meeting of the Court of 

 Governors of Mason University College. In reference to the 



scheme, the Management Committee reported that, in their 

 opinion, the University to be established in Birmingham should 

 be a teaching University, as distinguished from a University 

 which only examines students for degrees. The Univer.sity 

 should therefore have the control and direction of all the 

 teaching as well as the examining of students. With this end 

 in view the Committee recommend that, if an agreement can be 

 made with the governors of Mason University College, the Uni- 

 versity should be allowed to absorb the college. In this case 

 the college would cease to exist as a separate institution, and its 

 endowments, buildings, equipment, and staff would be trans- 

 ferred to the University. The Committee have had under con- 

 sideration the financial position of the University. They are of 

 opinion that, in order to completely carry out the above scheme, 

 an endowment of not less than 200,000/. is required beyond 

 that already held by Mason University College. Such an en- 

 dowment would just double the present endowment of the 

 college. The Committee expressed their opinion that every 

 effort should be used to at once increase the endowment fund in 

 order that an endowment of not less than 200,000/. may be 

 obtained to enable the University to start under favourable 

 conditions. 



Mr. Chamberlain moved the two resolutions, one recommend- 

 ing that steps be taken to absorb and include Mason College in 

 the new University ; and the second, authorising the Council of 

 Mason College to take the necessary measures to obtain a Royal 

 Charter for the establishment of the University. In presenting 

 these resolutions Mr. Chamberlain remarked : " I think our 

 ideal may be stated in a few words to be the creation in Bir- 

 mingham of a great centre of universal learning, of an institution 

 which should provide for the intellectual cultivation of mind in 

 the broadest possible sense, and which shall maintain for ever 

 in the city the highest standard of intellectual eminence. We 

 desire that in this school all acquired knowledge should be taught 

 and explained, and we further desire that knowledge should be 

 advanced by original research, and by the willing co-operation 

 of those who are engaged as professors and teachers. The 

 enormous development of science requires undoubtedly an ex- 

 tended application of the means of instruction. Of course, there 

 is special reason why science should take a very prominent 

 place in connection with a University which is situated in the 

 centre of a manufacturing and commercial district, and it would, 

 in my opinion, be pedantry were we to pretend that we did not 

 attach the highest importance to this branch of our work, and 

 did not intend that it should be distinctly carried out and should 

 give to the University a special position of its own." 



Referring to the address delivered by Mr. Chamberlain on 

 the subject of a University of Birmingham, and referred to above, 

 the 7"/mf.f remarked on Monday: "Those who carefully study 

 German commercial methods are well aware that the chief 

 cause of German success at the present time is the German 

 manufacturers' respect for science. There is at the present 

 moment at Dusseldorf a chemical company which employs 

 thirty-three trained chemists, picked University men, who are 

 paid good salaries with a share of the profits due to any inven- 

 tion which they may make ; this company pays very high 

 dividends, and its business has increased by leaps and bounds. 

 It would be interesting, but not encouraging, to learn what has 

 been the parallel history of the chemical works on the Tyne. 

 This points to one way in which a Birmingham Uni^versity, 

 properly equipped, worked and encouraged, may aflect the 

 commercial prosperity of the city." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Wiedemanii's Annalen dcr Physik und Chemic, No ID. — 

 Gravitational constant and mean density of the earth, by F. 

 Richarz and O. Krigar-Menzel. The gravitational constant, 

 i.e. the constant which has to be inserted in the equation for 

 determining the attraction from the product of the masses and 

 the inverse square of their distance apart, when C.G.S. units 

 are chosen, was found by the method of weighing a mass at two 

 different altitudes above the earth's surface. The result arrived 

 at was 6-685 X lo"^ The value for the mean ilensity of the 

 earth was 5-505 ± 0-009.— Surface tension in narrow capillary 

 tubes, by P. Volkmann. When measurements are made on 

 freshly-drawn capillary tubes, the results are well in accordance 

 with the known laws, whatever the substance and diameter of 

 the tubes. In old and wide tubes the surface tension is higher 



NO. I517, VOL. 59] 



